'Mommy Hugs, I Scared': 3-Year-Old's Heartbreaking Plea Before Placed on Ventilator

Utah is seeing record-breaking surges in children being hospitalized for COVID-19 and while they're faring better than older people, it has left parents trying to comfort children as they're placed on ventilators.

Yvonne Francis took her 3-year-old son to the hospital after he choked on a piece of apple because he was struggling to breath. Initially diagnosed with asthma, his lungs were so full of secretions it was difficult to see if he fully inhaled the apple and once being transferred to the children's hospital, doctors found he was battling COVID-19 an a slew of other viruses.

Yvonne told The Salt Lake Tribune that over the course of 12 hours, his condition went from a runny nose to a wet cough and a fever. As health care workers entered the room in personal protective equipment, Justin grew increasingly scared and tried to fight to get out of the bed to get to his parents, she said.

"I sorry, Mommy. Mommy hugs, I scared. I don't like it. Mommy!" Yvonne told the Salt Lake Tribune was the last thing the 3-year-old said before being put on a ventilator.

After being intubated, Justin's case remained largely unchanged for days. About a week after being admitted to the hospital, he started to improve and was breathing a little bit easier.

For many people, Omicron will only cause mild symptoms and they'll be able to recover on their own at home. That's even more true for people who have been fully vaccinated and had their booster dose. However, Omicron has caused a spike in hospitalizations and officials have cautioned against taking it lightly because a huge increase in cases means some people will have to be hospitalized and die.

At 3 years old, Justin wasn't eligible to be vaccinated and his mom told the Salt Lake Tribune he had no "choice" in whether he got sick. His safety was partially dependent on others getting vaccinated and Yvonne said their family got inoculated, stayed home and did "everything" they could to limit public interactions.

"Now every single health care worker taking care of him is taking a risk as well.… People have a responsibility to try to protect others. If you don't want to get the vaccine, you can stay home, too. But that doesn't seem to be what's happening," Yvonne said.

Justin was still on a ventilator as of Friday and the family started a GoFundMe to help with the medical bills the family is sure to incur.

COVID-19 hospitalizations among children are at a pandemic-high nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Sean O'Leary, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado, told CNBC the biggest risk factor in kids is being unvaccinated. While some kids are being hospitalized for other conditions and then found to have COVID-19, O'Leary said about two-thirds of admissions are because of COVID-19.

Dr. Andrew Pavia, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Primary Children's Hospital, told the Salt Lake Tribune it's relatively uncommon for children to happen to test positive for COVID-19 when they come in for an unrelated injury. Nearly all of the pediatric hospitalizations were because a child was seriously ill with COVID-19, according to Pavia. At a news conference on Friday, he called the situation "pretty miserable." Fortunately, though, children who are hospitalized seem to be faring better with this variant than others, according to Pavia.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged that children are less likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19. However, he said when it's your child who's in the hospital, that low number of hospitalizations isn't comforting.

Justin was ultimately diagnosed with COVID-19, rhinovirus, adenovirus, pneumonia and severe bronchial complications due to asthma, which his mother didn't even know he had before he was hospitalized. While he seems to be improving, Yvonne told the Salt Lake Tribune that her son's last words to her before being intubated are "burned in my memory."